Another way it could have ended
by 25Stella27
Summary: In the mountains of Sachaka Akkarin discovers something strange about Sonea's magic. What impact does it have on the storyline? I basecally changed the whole story after Akkarin and Sonea have been exiled. The story doesn't only focus on Akkarin and Sonea, but also includes the chracters still in Imardin (merely Lorlen, Rothen and Dannyl).
1. Chapter 1

Akkarin frowned.

_Am I doing something wrong? _Sonea wondered, but there was nothing strange about the power flow she was sending him.

"Is there a problem?", she finally asked aloud when Akkarin removed his hand from her shoulder.

"I'm not quite sure... You're just as strong as the last time I took power from you."

-"I've had a whole day to recover. My strength has always returned quite quickly."

"But the last time you've had the strength of the Ichani."

She looked at him, startled. Where did he want to go? "Maybe I've gotten stronger..."

Still frowning he locked his eyes with hers.

"I'd like to try something", he finally said und seized her hand.

Sonea who had expected him to drain power from her was surprised to feel him sending power to her. Hastily she concentrated on the straw of energy and consumed it just until Akkarin let go of her hand again.

She shot him a questioning look. "And what is this for?"

"It's an … experiment. I've got a suspicion." He hesitated before adding: "And I don't know yet whether I want to be right about it or not."

Sonea sighed as she realized he wouldn't share any more details. He simply wasn't the type of person sharing his secrets easily.

If he didn't suppose the growth of her strength was natural, what was the alternative he thought of? She couldn't think of any. But before she could wonder about his strange behaviour anymore, he rose to his feet and casted a look at the surrounding landscape, which was now turned orange by the light of the setting sun. "Come on, we have to move on. The Ichani is to close to allow us a whole night's sleep."

She couldn't help wondering when this had been allowed to her the last time. It seemed as far away as Imardin.

Nevertheless she stood up, bracing herself for another difficult walk through this merciless countryside.

**The story's original language is German and most of it was already published on a German fanfiction site. If anyone is interested in helping me to translate (I like doing it but it is a lot of work) just tell me, this way you can ensure I won't stop doing the job halfway through ;)  
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**Please tell me what you think of first bit and also if I've used some incorrect vocabulairy as I don't know the English version of the books!  
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	2. Chapter 2

Lorlen played nervously with the silver ring inside his pocket. He wasn't wearing it anymore, fearing someone could identify it as an object made with Black Magic.

But even sitting alone in his office he didn't dare to put it on.

He told himself it was because he didn't want to give Akkarin any knowledge about what was happening in Imardin, but truth was that he was afraid his long-known friend could be dead.

Four days Sonea and Akkarin had been in Sachaka by now. If Akkarin had told the truth, this would've been more than enough time for the Ichani to find and kill them.

If Akkarin had told the truth… this seemed to be the expression most spoken at the Guild at the moment.

Everywhere there were discussions about this very question.

Most Magicians vehemently denied Akkarin's story had been anything but a poor attempt to explain his use of Black Magic, but Lorlen thought that many were probably only afraid of the alternative. Because even he couldn't help hoping that all of this had been nothing but a lie.

Suddenly the irony of the situation struck him: For the last two years he'd kept wishing Akkarin's doings would be discovered and the former High Lord would finally reveal his motives. And now he would've given everything to get the old situation back.

By now he' d started to wonder what he would've done in Akkarin's place. He'd like to claim he'd gone to the Higher Magicians to inform them about the risk, yet he could also understand why Akkarin hadn't done so.

_But why hasn't he told me when he realised I knew about his activities?_ But even this question he could answer himself. He wouldn't have believed him or insisted on telling the other Higher Magicians.

There was a knock at the door. Lorlen twitched, a bad habit resulting from Akkarin's many unannounced visits during the past few years. He shook his head at himself and asked his visitor to come in. It was Lord Osen.

"Administrator." Osen bowed quickly.

"Lord Balkan and Lady Vinara want to know when to elect a new High Lord."

Lorlen thought about this quickly: It was obvious that the Guild was in need of a strong leader in times like this, yet Akkarin's heir wouldn't have an easy task. It was unlikely he would quickly gain as much acceptance as Akkarin had had and he'd have to make some unpopular decisions.

"Administrator?" Osen interrupted his train of thoughts.

"I'll have to discuss this matter with the others. There are many reasons suggesting a quick selection yet we can't risk it to be a hasty one."

Osen nodded and hurried away, probably to get the other Higher Magician right on the spot.

As the door had closed behind the young man, Lorlen reached into his pocket producing the ring. Should he ask Akkarin who'd be a decent replacement?

Lorlen knew he would have to suggest someone, as he was the Administrator. He started to think about it. Had Akkarin told lies, it would be stupid to ask for his advice. But if Kyralia really was in danger, Akkarin was probably the only one knowing what to do...

Finally Lorlen put on the ring; probably Akkarin wouldn't answer anyway and even if he did, it was still Lorlen's decision whether to follow his advice or not.

-_Akkarin?_ There was no answer. –_We're going to elect a new High Lord soon. Who would be most suitable in your opinion?_

Lorlen was just about to put the ring off again when he decided to keep wearing it until the other Higher Magician arrived. Maybe Akkarin was still thinking about the matter.

The possibility that his former best friend couldn't answer anymore was dismissed completely.

This time Lorlen didn't twitch when there was a knock at the door. Quickly he put the ring away, yet his movements were too hasty and the piece of jewellery slid past his pocket, hitting the ground with a dumb sound and rolling under a nearby armoire.

Cursing silently under his breath Lorlen bend down but he couldn't reach the ring. He tried to snatch it with magic but for some reason it proved to be disobeying. Lorlen frowned.

"Administrator?" he heard Balkan calling from outside, the warrior's words followed by further knocking. Hastily Lorlen got up and sunk back into his armchair.

Under the armoire the ring couldn't cause too much damage, could it?

"Yes", he called to door and Lord Balkan, Lord Sarrin, Lady Vinara and the Administrator for foreign affairs stepped inside his office.

After they had sat down, Balkan started the discussion without any further introduction: "The Guild is without a leader. I think, we can all agree that it is of highest priority to think about who can replace Akkarin as the High Lord."

"Don't you think we should wait with the election until everyone has calmed down a little? Or least until we have had a chance to check on the claims Akkarin has made?

I mean, the question what kind of leader is required highly depends on whether we can verify them or not.", Kito said.

Balkan frowned. " I'm not sure if it makes sense to wait that long... Let's imagine the worst-case scenario, what would be we are to expect an almost immediate attack of Ichani: If we chose to wait, there might be enough time to elect another High Lord, yet this person would never gain enough respect in such short time to lead our forces.

On the other hand, if Akkarin has lied, it would probably also make more sense to quickly chose a new leader as to steady our inner situation."

"But", Vinara interrupted, "isn't it more important to find someone suitable? I agree with Kito that we have to know what kind of situation we're facing at the moment, before we can decide on a decent nominee!"

Lorlen secretly wished to have heard Akkarin's opinion on this topic. He himself could understand either point of view, but it seemed impossible to judge which reaction would be wiser.

"It wouldn't be hard for a Magician to gain enough respect, if he had already some beforehand" Kito added. "Let's take you as an example Lord Balkan: It shouldn't be hard for you –even in the case of war- to be sure of the loyalty of the whole Guild. Therefore I think it wouldn't be a smart move to decide on a quick, maybe hasty election just because of this reason."

Balkan opened his mouth to object, but Lorlen managed to cut in: "The law of Guild says the High Lord has to be elected within one moon cycle. I think we can all agree on this requirement being met."

The magicians nodded, even though Vinara and Kito only did so reluctantly.

"I think that first of all we have to decide on in which expand we seize this time limit..."

Lorlen continued, but Lord Sarrin shook his head vehemently.

"I believe it makes more sense to think about possible candidates first as it will then be easier to judge in how far the election's date will influence its outcome."

Much to Lorlen's disappointment the other magicians once again nodded in agreement destroying his hope to talk to Akkarin before discussing the matter. Sighing slightly frustrated he continued in the protocol: "So, who could make a decent leader in your opinion?"

The question started a surprisingly intense discussion and Lorlen got the feeling the strengths and weaknesses of almost every Guild Magician were enumerated.

He felt his attention finally shift away when the others started to argue about people Lorlen had maybe seen once or twice but never actually spoken to.

Only now he realized how much he'd depended on Akkarin whenever there had been a severe decision to make.

And how much he longed to have the responsibility taken away yet another time...

With some effort he suppressed a sigh. How much he wished to give away his worries as well!

WUMM! A loud banging noise brought him back to his office. He looked up seeing that the vase used to stand on his desk lay on floor, broken, just as most of his letters.

Sarrin's guilty looking face told him the old Alchemist was the one responsible for the mess.

Murmuring silent excuses Sarrin bent down to collect the –mostly drenched- documents from the floor.

Lorlen couldn't help a sigh as he recognized a letter to the Ambassador of Vindo he'd spent most of the evening on and which he would have to write again.

Balkan who seemed to have caused Sarrin's burst of outrage (Lorlen cursed himself silently for not following the argument more closely) now bend down as well to help Sarrin.

"Whom we've been talking about?" Lorlen whispered to Vinara. The Healers' Head twisted her lips in an amused way, but seemed to be willing to give Lorlen an update.

"Lord Palkin." Lorlen shot her another questioning glance.

Eyes fixed on Sarrin, who was trying to reach some letters, which had slipped underneath the armoire, Vinara bent closer to Lorlen and whispered: "He's a warrior living in Capia. Probably you wouldn't know him as he's graduated some years before you did. Sarrin has always disliked his radical views on some topics, but he's used to be one of Balkan's favourite students..." Vinara's voice trailed of and she looked past Lorlen, frowning.

Lorlen followed her gaze: Most of Sarrin upper body had disappeared underneath the armoire and the Alchemist was holding Balkan's hand. Irritated Lorlen watched how the warrior's expression changed from surprised to aghast.

Then he realized what had to be happening: Sarrin had found the blood ring! Lorlen didn't know how much of the books Sarrin had studied by now yet it seemed to be enough to identify the Black Magical object.

Would it be possible to deny that he knew of the ring? As long as Akkarin wouldn't communicate with the bearer there was no way of knowing it belonged to the former High Lord and it was even harder to prove it had been given to Lorlen.

He could pretend to not have a clue how the object had gotten into his office...

He straightened up trying to look as casual as possible.

But then Balkan looked up, his eyes locking with Lorlen's instantly. Every bit of self-assuredness vanished, as Lorlen recognized the expression in the pale blue eyes of the Warriors' leader. It was disappointment pared with the pain felt by those who've been betrayed.

"Why, Lorlen? Why?" Balkan whispered.


End file.
